how the moon affects the tides

this happens because of 2 things : rotation & gravity.When the tide comes in, the further away the moon gets the higher the tide. so, it's like this: when the moon is (somewhat) away from earth, there is a high tide, but when the moon is close to the earth, there is a low tide. This is caused by the moon's gravitational pull. the other is caused by earth's centrifugal force. during the moons quarter phases the sun and the moon work at right angles, causing the bulges to cancel each other.The result is a smaller difference between the higher and lower tides, also known as a neap tide. neap tides are especially weak tides.